Overview
- Defence Minister Angie Motshekga set up a board of inquiry to establish whether the president’s instruction on Iran’s status in the exercise was misrepresented or ignored, with findings due within seven days of the drills’ end.
- Iranian naval presence was documented as the SANDF said two warships took part and AP observed a third in Simon’s Town, while a defence post listing an Iranian corvette was later deleted.
- The Presidency confirmed Ramaphosa told Motshekga to ensure Iran withdrew or was confined to observer status, prompting scrutiny of how that order was communicated and enforced.
- The weeklong Will for Peace 2026 exercise ran January 9–16 off Cape Town under Chinese operational command with ships from South Africa, China, Russia and the UAE, and it concluded on Friday.
- India said the drills were a South African initiative rather than an institutional BRICS activity and did not participate, as the U.S. Embassy criticized Iran’s involvement as “particularly unconscionable” given the protest crackdown.